Big Boy

Big Boy

I don’t profess to know anything about parenting. I basically go with the flow, do what feels right, and rely on Google  for everything else. As we prepare for Ellen’s arrival, we’re doing our best to prep Cooper. We’ve read books about new babies and my parents brought him a little redheaded baby doll (Wishful thinking? I hope not.). Still, I think the whole thing is going to be kind of a shock, I mean he holds the baby up to his ear like a phone and tries to talk into it. I’m nervous about how those first weeks (or months) of transition will go with everyone trying to get used to each other and want to do what I can to minimize the amount of change going on at that time. We chose one thing we wanted Cooper to have mastered before the baby came and after only two days we think he’s got the hang of it. No it wasn’t potty training (Ha, I didn’t even feel like trying that.) or weaning him of his pacifier (Although we have gotten him down to just using it when he sleeps.), but it was getting him into a “big boy” bed.

We tried to keep it as “crib-like” as possible to avoid any potential trauma (expert parenting skills kicking in here). To accomplish this we’re having him continue to use his blankets instead of sheets and a comforter  (Yes, we are the kind of people that let our small children sleep with killer blankets!) and we walled him in on three sides with the help of a bed rail one of Noel’s co-workers kindly gave us. Cooper loves being able to climb in and out of his bed with the aid of his little stool, but has been really good about staying there when it’s time to sleep. We’ve only had one incidence of him wandering into our room and climbing into bed at 4am, but simply shutting his door was enough of a deterrent to keep him from trying it again. Fingers crossed we continue to all sleep peacefully.

8 thoughts on “Big Boy

  1. I know this comment is a little late, but I love the name Ellen! And I like it more that she will be named after a great grandmother. Very neat.

  2. Oh heck you guys are good parents! You have successfully kidproofed a kid’s bed! I have to confess we are taking the lazy route – no bed rail and no extra padding except for a slightly fluffy blanket at the edges of the bed to make the bruises smaller. And yes Molly has rolled out of bed a couple times (it makes for a creepy bump in the night) so I wouldn’t recommend it for all parents. Way to keep him safe!

  3. Yeah, we really should have gotten a bed rail for Caleb, but we lived on wild side and just put a long body pillow on the floor by his bed. (We started him with just the crib mattress on the floor, so it was only 6 inches to “fall.”) I hope Cooper continues to do well with his new bed (my friend’s two year old slept for two months just fine in his bed, and then suddenly discovered his freedom and the past month has been much more challenging). Caleb was a challenge from the beginning, so we are holding off for as long as possible with Isaac!

  4. Something our pediatrician suggested when we had Aria was to call her “Michael’s baby.” Apparently this helps toddlers transition to having a sibling. I’m sure that personality has a lot to do with it, but Michael sure does like “his” baby. I’m lucky he lets me borrow her sometimes. 😉 He finally does know her real name, but if you ask him what baby’s name is, he’ll just say “Pete!” and run away laughing (he thinks it’s funny to call everything “Pete” these days).

  5. Wow – you guys are brave and Cooper sounds like a model citizen 🙂 We really need to transition Sam to his toddler bed ASAP so he can get used to it before the new baby comes, but I keep on coming up with excuses like he might fall out or get into mischief. (But really it’s because I think he would live in our bedroom at night and I am relishing my last month of (mostly) uninterrupted sleep.)

  6. I’m glad you found a different mirror at Target 🙂 I agree, you are brave to move on to the toddler bed. I might just leave Anika in her crib forever 🙂 Maybe it would be a smooth transition, but I would bet otherwise. I sometimes have nightmares that she gets out of her bed/room and into ours. Not that it would be a nightmare if it really happened, but it always kind of spooks me out.

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